


Dum spiro spero

by EvilMuffins



Category: Dangan Ronpa, Super Dangan Ronpa 2
Genre: Multi, Polyamory, Post-Despair
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-12
Updated: 2015-11-12
Packaged: 2018-04-29 16:50:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,120
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5135255
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EvilMuffins/pseuds/EvilMuffins
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nanami had always been horrible at dating sim games. It was a good thing, then, that this wasn’t a game.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Dum spiro spero

**Author's Note:**

  * For [NightsMistress](https://archiveofourown.org/users/NightsMistress/gifts).



> I adored your prompt right from the start of the exchange, so I was very excited to have the chance to write it for you. I hope I was able to do it some sort of justice!

_As I breathe, I hope_

 

It was dark, at night, when they shut her down, but she always felt the presence of someone in there with her.

The first night that it happened, she couldn’t help but feel a little frightened, even despite the fact that she could no longer feel psychical pain. Still, she kept it to herself the next day for fear of worrying them. The others had much bigger things to worry about, such as caring for those still comatose. Someone such as herself, that didn’t need anything to be kept alive, save a reasonably steady power supply, needn’t be fretted over when actual flesh and blood was on the line.

The usual beep signaled morning, as the machine hosting her was switched on.

“…Nanami?” Each morning Hinata called out to her, and she could hear question in his voice through the headset, the hesitation, as if he were afraid to know the answer to an unasked question, and that he feared that one day she would simply be erased again.

She wondered where he thought she would go- jump to a different computer? She doubted any other could support her at this point. Was he beginning to think this was the dream, and the island of killing the true reality?

Was it something like that niggling little feeling in the back of your mind, the one you get when you shut the console down, but you begin to question whether it truly saved or not. You know that you hit save, you know your game will still be there tomorrow, and yet…

Nanami hadn’t known loss in the same way as the others. When she had lost her father, Chihiro Fujisaki, he simply was no longer there. One day, he never logged on again, and that was that. It was no different than when a party member fell in one of the games she had been taught to play in order to occupy her time inside the computer. The others, they had had known death even before becoming one with Despair. They had watched pets, grandparents, family friends die. Death was a part of human life.

When the deaths began on the island, she watched as friends and lovers grieved over one-another. There were times now, at night in the dark, when the look on Hinata’s face during the final trial was all she could see. It had been in that moment that she thought that perhaps she understood.

“I’m still here…I think,” she responded.

She knew that he had grown found of her particular speech quirk; it reminded Hinata that she really was the same Nanami from the island, even if he could no longer see her face. In the past few days, however, the phrase had become less and less of a joke to her.

It was strange, no longer having a psychical body. She had only had a form for such a short time, but the feeling of the cool ocean water splashing around her ankles, the sun on her face, Hinata’s arms around her the time she had tripped in the storeroom...it had all been fun to say the least.

The day passed by quickly. Besides Hinata, Souda and Sonia had visited her on different occasions as well. Souda mostly came by to check on the machine, make sure she wasn't overheating and the like. Sonia came by each day to chat and keep her company during the times when Hinata was busy.

It was night again now. Each night she was shut down in order to conserve the island's power, as it took so much energy in order to keep the comatose students alive. 

He was there again. Though she couldn't see him, she felt the familiar presence in the darkness.

“Aren’t you bored in here?” he asked, finally. The first word he’d spoken to Nanami since she first became aware of him some days ago.

“No,” Nanami answers calmly. She recognised this voice. “If I hadn’t been brought back, I think that there wouldn’t have been anything at all, and that might be boring. I’m happy that I can still talk with my friends, talk with you, Kamukura-kun. Thank you for bringing me back.”

“It was that one with the shark teeth who put you here,” the man responded.

“Souda-kun watches over the computer, and makes sure the system holds up, but you were the one who brought me back. You’re the only one who could have done it, I think.”

Kamukura remained silent for the rest of the night.

The following night, Nanami was surprised to hear more than one voice, both hushed in tone, and neither of them belonging to Kamukura or Hinata.

“He’s like this every night?” came the voice of Sonia, clearly concerned.

Hinata must have fallen asleep at the desk with the headset left on.

“Yeah, man,” Souda replied, “Most of the day too. He talks to her every chance he gets, but the thing is, all of her responses are gibberish. It’s like I told you guys before, Hinata and I weren’t able to recover her voice, so she’s just been typing to him, but it’s all numbers and symbols and junk. I don’t think she knows.”

“It’s sweet that he talks to her anyway, though. She must get lonely in there. I try to visit her as much as I can, but...”

“That’s the thing, though. What if he’s just talking to himself? When I saw him like this last night, he was mumbling in his sleep, and he really didn’t sound like himself,” Souda asked in a conspiratory whisper.

“Well, I’m glad you came and got me…out of bed at three in the morning… but I have faith that Nanami’s in there, all of her, and once we get everyone else to wake up, we’ll have time to make things better for her. We have to have faith in her and Hinata-san until then.”

Nanami heard foot steps as the two presumably went back to bed.

As much as she enjoyed Hinata’s company, it was nice to hear something from the others. Still, it was troubling to know that no one could understand her. She wanted them to know that she was okay, and not to worry, Hinata especially, considering he had taken to sleeping at the computer. True, Nanami had been famous for sleeping in odd places back on the island, but it was somehow different when it was Hinata. She wished she could scold him and tell him to go to bed.

“Kamukura-kun? Is this why you only come to see me at night?” she asked. "Could it be that you want to let Hinata-kun be his own person during the day as much as possible?"

"Are you only capable of asking boring questions?" he returned.

“So you're still bored, then?”

She took the silence as a ‘yes’. If she squinted, she could make out his outline in the dark area. It seemed as though each night, he would chose a spot a little bit nearer to her to settle down.

Nanami moved even closer still. “I want you to pass this on to Hinata-kun for me.”

Nanami had always been horrible at dating sim games, it was true. It was a good thing this wasn’t a game.

 

* * *

 

 There came a series of pops, much like a fresh bowl of Rice Krispies, as Hinata attempted to work the kinks out of his neck. He had no idea if his bed inside the facility was even comfortable, considering the fact that he had only slept there once in the time he'd been here. He always meant to go to bed, yet something always happened after he said goodnight to Nanami.

He knew that he was no good to the others like this, that they needed his help in figuring out how to wake the others up, yet he couldn’t remember how. Souda had told him that Hinata had been the one to bring Nanami back, yet he couldn’t remember such an event at all. He remembered seeing the faces of the future foundation as he was helped out of his own capsule, but the next he knew after that, he was speaking with Nanami through the headset. He had no memory what so ever of bringing her back.

The guilt gnawed at him. It was clear that she wasn’t completely restored- no image, no voice, only garbled text on a black screen. He wanted to make her whole again, but he no longer knew how. It had to have been Kamukura, but Hinata had no idea how to reach out to him, or if he was even still there. Maybe the two had merged into one personality, only Hinata, being so horrifically average, had failed to manifest any of the other’s talents?

With a sigh, he reached out for the button to turn Nanami on for the day, but halted when he heard a strange voice.

_“Hey, you.”_

Perhaps ' _heard'_ was the wrong word, as the voice seemed to be coming from inside of Hinata’s own head.

_“So you’ll only listen to that boring girl now? Is that it?”_

Though the voice echoed around the inside of his skull, it sounded eerily similar to his own.

Hinata rubbed at the area between his eyebrows.

“She’s the most interesting person we know, Kamukura, and you know it.”

He could see Kamukura now, in the way a person sees their daydreams, a translucent overlay upon the psychical space.

“What’s the deal with this snowboard you keep in here?” Hinata watched with bemusement as his other self kicked something over in their shared mind-space.

“Where were you all this time?” Hinata asked, relief in his voice. He he had truly missed Kamukura. Not only because he had the skills to help Nanami and the others, but because he was an important part of Hinata. Perhaps together they could figure out their past mistakes, and avoid repeating them.

Kamukura continued to scoot the fallen snowboard around with his foot. “I spoke to the AI girl.”

Hinata could tell both from his tone and their shared connection that even the man who was bored all time had enjoyed spending time with time with Nanami. Hinata was glad. Nanami was clever, and funny, and even without a form, still beautiful. How could anyone not love her?

After a pause, Kamukura continued, “She asked me to pass something onto you.”

It made sense that Kamukura and Nanami would have a connection, neither having a body to call their own, both caring deeply for Hinata, in their own way.

Hinata did not, however, expect their connection to have been expressed in this particular fashion.

Though Kamukura resided inside Hinata’s mind, he could still feel the other's touch, no different than the way touch can still be felt while dreaming.

Kamukura’s hands were firm on his shoulders, lips briefly ghosting over Hinata’s own.

“Such acts don’t interest me,” Kamukura said, letting go and stepping back. “So you can inform Nanami if it wasn’t satisfactory.”

He had tried his best to mimic the way Nanami had kissed him while inside her area of the computer. The act had been unexpected, and dare he say bordering on interesting, despite what he had just told Hinata. How could he be the world’s most talented person, if he couldn’t learn to recreate such a simple action? That said, he knew that his touch wasn’t as soft and comforting as Nanami’s, but perhaps someday he could find a way for Hinata to experience the real thing with her. In the mean time, however, he would act as their go-between. It was something to do, at least.

* * *

 

It was a month later, give or take, and Kamukura had managed to retrieve Nanami’s image files, though it seemed to be some sort of beta version; her hair was much straighter now. Her voice was back as well, allowing for both Hinata and Kamukura to properly converse with her, though Kamukura still found time now and again to slip back inside the computer and spend some time with the girl. ‘Routine maintenance’ he called it, though all he did was he listen to her talk about video games, and occasionally fiddle with the snowboard, sometimes both at once. Still, he would now allow Hinata time to sleep in an actual bed most nights. Not only was Nanami mostly fixed, but the comatose students were well on their way to being woken up as well; Kamukura estimated that it would only be a matter of days now.

Everyone still had a long way to go, but for now the three would face things together.

 

_The end_

 


End file.
